The forum had two main themes of reflection

What's more vital for the human species, and even life in General, that the water The nature is rich, and humanity will be largely lived more than ten thousand years without any problems in its regard. It draws, it use, it lays and refers more often in rivers or the sea. But we eventually run out. I refer of course water non-saline, about 3 of all the water on the planet. When we see the fighting men are able to engage on oil, we guess that lack of water may be the most dramatic consequences.

Water resources are unevenly distributed, the human population. If Latin America seems to be fairly well with for a long time, it is not similarly elsewhere. Europe arrives at a position limit, and already is in Africa, and Central Asia and China. Since 20 or 30 years, humanity begins to become aware. Thus met from 16 to 20 March in Mexico City the 4th Global Forum water. This is unfortunately not yet an official meeting, no decision can go. But that is all an Assembly tens of thousands of people where it reflects, and confronts many, which has at least the huge advantage to advance awareness of opinion and the reflection of the public authorities.

All the actors in the water there are and it's essential: national Governments, local communities, private enterprises, NGOs of all kinds and various international organization. With such participation, and even if they are not official, the recommendations of such a forum are important. Good water management is a very difficult case and the experience has many. There is local possible effective management that few States are willing to accept, even if the rules must be clearly national. Interference is constant, and obliged to, between the public and the private sector. A subtle mix between the Act and the contract must be in this area. All legal cultures to be unsuitable also.

They are mainly men who decide, and mainly women who use the water. Cultural, the conflict becomes economic and technical. Finally, the main interlocutor of the State in each country is less user, rarely and poorly represented, as civil society, one representative of non-satisfied demand. Few States are able to forge a fertile dialogue with their civil society.

This inevitable multiplicity of stakeholders naturally leads to a large variety of systems. They are very unevenly effective.

Water forums are for this reason places of confrontation of good practices at the same time as places for the development of useful concepts. Therefore, the myth of a possible free water found its end. Water has a cost, that it must be someone to pay. This can be the taxpayer or the user. A share can be considered of course, but not the disappearance of cost.

The forum had two main themes of reflection. The first was the "right to water". The urgency of the needs, the fact that a billion people have no access to drinking water and two billion no access to sanitation, the huge number of diseases resulting from these situations lead to the assertion of such a fundamental right. A broad agreement to the forum on the fact that such a right has no meaning if the wording is not associated with the definition of the debtor to the law, i.e. of the head of its implementation. This can be the State. But the liability of the State in the implementation of the right water cannot be the exclusive payer. He is in charge of implementing the system but the balance of this system is set. Finally, these uncertainties have led to not include recognition of the right to water in the final resolution.

Second theme, the role of local communities. There in Mexico City a very broad consensus, despite political and many represented societies administrative centralism, on the fact that there is effective system that implemented and managed locally, as close as possible of the resource and the users. The major point is a real breakthrough.

Naturally, conflicts between Governments or local authorities and private companies emerged. Naturally, the cruel failure of the means was stressed. And of course, the development of necessary solidarity between the rich and the other has also been highlighted. This is not the formal decisions, but develops more and more precise, technically informed and demanding pressure on decision makers. In its progressive guesswork to relevant solutions, humanity advance faster for drinking water to resistance to climate change.